A system and method are provided for managing configuration inconsistencies between a network management system (NMS) and network elements (NEs). In one example, the system includes a user interface, which includes an object field configured to identify database objects of the network management system, wherein each database object corresponds to a network element; a network device field configured to identify a top level network device that contains the network element; a status field configured to display a database object state, wherein the database object state represents a relationship between the database object configuration and the network element configuration; and an input mechanism configured to issue a command to edit one of network element values and database object values.